Case Studies

MEDICAL CASE STUDY 1

Patient in Northampton

• Doctor’s Home Visit
• Referral / admission to Hospital
• Taxi transfer
• Obtaining/forwarding EHIC
• Hotel booking
• Flight booking

Day 1

09:05 Insurance Company emails Direct Assistance (DA) with details of a patient in Southampton presenting with a persistent headache and pyrexia, requiring a doctor to visit the hotel

09:06 DA confirms receipt of new request by email to Insurance Company

09:09 DA contact patient’s husband and confirms location and immediately activates local doctor to provide visit ASAP

10:15 Doctor arrives with patient at hotel. Full physical examination is performed. The patient is administered 75mg Voltarol IM stat and dispensed oral Paracetamol. DA doctor agrees to monitor with patient to check her evolution the next day

12:38 Full and detailed medical report is sent to insurance company for review

Day 2

09:00 DA doctor monitors patient on the phone who is not improving and continues with persistent low grade pyrexia, headache and visual disturbances despite treatment.

09:02 DA doctor liaises with Medical Registrar at Northampton General Hospital who agrees to admit patient for further investigation. DA supply Medical registrar with medical information/referral via fax.

09:10 DA updates insurance company with latest information who request we organise urgent taxi transfer to Hospital.

09:14 Pre-paid taxi is organised by DA to collect patient and husband from hotel and transfer them to Hospital. Patient’s husband and Insurance Company are duly informed of arrangements.

10:07: Patient arrives at Hospital. DA send request for medical report to Hospital and check with Hospital administration who require European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or guarantee of payment.

10:30: Patient is not in possession of an EHIC so DA obtains social security information from husband and requests a retrospective replacement certificate. The Hospital administration and insurance are informed and happy (A few days later the certificate is received and faxed direct to the cashier’s office at the Hospital to cover the medical expenses)

15:00: Medical Report is obtained from Hospital and forwarded to Insurance Company’s medical department for review.

18:00: Patient sufficiently improves with treatment, is discharged and declared fit for travel. DA provides Insurance Company with discharge summary and completed certificate of fitness to fly signed by attending doctor. This is sent to the insurance company.

18:17: Insurance company request extension of hotel accommodation and flight options to Spain ASAP.

18:20: DA arranges and covers Hotel accommodation near to Hospital for patient and husband. Details are provided to Insurance Company and directly to patient.

18:49: DA provides insurance with various flight options for the next day. Insurance agrees an option and also requests taxi to transfer clients to the airport.

19:00: DA book flight for patient and husband and organise pre-paid taxi to collect them from the hotel to take the flight. Full itinerary is faxed to hotel together with certificate of fitness to fly. Husband is phoned to confirm receipt. The insurance are also provided with the same full itinerary.

Day 3

11:20: DA confirms to Insurance the clients’ safe arrival at the airport.

The file is closed and all the services are itemised and sent to the insurance on a single invoice.

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MEDICAL CASE STUDY 2

Patient in Milton Keynes

• Doctor’s Home Visit within 60 mins
• Medications dispensed on the spot

19:48 Insurance Company faxes Direct Assistance (DA) with information of a patient in Milton Keynes with complaints of fever, sore throat and cough.

19:50 DA acknowledges receipt of the new job by fax (as preferred by this insurance company)

19:51 DA contact patient’s Father to qualify the information given and exact address. DA advises Father that the doctor will arrive within next 60 minutes.

19:58 DA network doctor in Milton Keynes is activated and dispatched.  

20:02 DA informs insurance of estimated arrival of doctor via fax

20:38 Doctor arrives, provides full clinical examination of patient and diagnoses Acute Tonsillitis. He is dispensed from stock oral Penicillin V 500mg to be taken four times daily and oral Paracetamol. Patient and Father also given advice.

22:30 Full medical report is faxed to insurance company. Company is subsequently invoiced by DA accounts for payment within 30 days.

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MOTORING CASE STUDY 1

Flat tyre in London

• Roadside assistance within 30 mins
• Wheel changed on the spot

01:19 Insurance Company emails Direct Assistance (DA) with details of insured who has a flat tyre on his car and is broken down in central London.

01:19 DA immediately confirms receipt of the new assistance request and provides ETA of 30 mins

01:23 DA contact driver to confirm location, fault and that there is a serviceable spare tyre available.

01:25 DA network rescue unit is dispatched to client

01:48 DA rescue unit arrives on scene, wheel is removed and replaced with spare. Driver continues his journey.

01:55 DA informs Insurance Company job is completed. File is closed and invoice is subsequently sent for payment within agreed terms.  

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MOTORING CASE STUDY 2

Non-starting Van on M40 in Birmingham

• Commercial recovery
• Secure vehicle storage
• Hotel accommodation
• Flight booking
• Taxi transfer
• Monitoring repairs
• Mediation between parties

Day 1

02:46 Motoring Organisation emails Direct Assistance (DA) with details of their member, who’s van cut out and will not restart. He is on the M40 motorway near Birmingham and requires urgent assistance.  

02:50 DA establish contact with the member. DA confirms his exact location using motorway marker posts which is verified against DA highways database. The member is given an estimated arrival time of 35 minutes. Safety advice is given to member.

02:53 DA commercial recovery truck is deployed to member. 

03:14 DA engineer arrives on scene but is unable to resolve fault at roadside

03:25 DA inform Motoring Organisation vehicle is not repairable at roadside. It is the early hours of Sunday morning so no garages are open. Also client has no accommodation. DA requests authorisation to recover into storage and further instructions on what to do with the member.

03:44 Motoring Organisation give authorisation for 1 night storage and request nearby accommodation for the member.

03:44 DA instruct engineer to load vehicle and transfer vehicle and member to nearby secure storage, engineer told to standby for hotel details where member will need to disembark. 

03:56 DA organise and pre-pay hotel accommodation within 1.5miles from secure storage. Engineer is informed and advised to drop client to this address.

03:57 Full address of secure storage and hotel address is conveyed to the Motoring organisation. Further instructions are requested.

04:09 DA confirm safe arrival of member at the hotel and the arrival of the vehicle to secure storage.

06:30 Motoring Organisation provide DA with instructions to recover van to local Main Dealer approved garage later that morning.

09:00 DA phones Main dealer approved garage upon opening, vehicle is booked in for an estimate. DA fax details and request full estimate to be sent ASAP.

09:34 DA recover van to Main dealer approved garage

10:20 DA confirms garage receive van and confirm they should have an estimate ready later the same afternoon. Motoring organisation is updated with this information.

11:07 Motoring organisation request flight options to repatriate member from London to Timisoara, Romania.

12:22 DA provide Motoring organisation with 5 flight options, varying in routing, travel time and cost.

13:40 Motoring organisation agree flight option for the same day and request pre-paid taxi transfer for member from hotel to Heathrow airport. DA book appropriate flight and organise and cover taxi. DA phone member to provide full itinerary which is then also faxed to the hotel.

15:01 DA chase garage for update on repair. Garage confirm vehicle is in process of being assessed and promise the estimate to be sent before the end of the day.

16:55 DA chase estimate, which is duly sent shortly afterwards and then forwarded to motoring organisation. The fault is with the fuel injector which needs replacing.

19:00 DA confirm safe arrival of member at Heathrow airport.

Day 3

07:29 Motoring organisation have reviewed estimate and spoken to client who suggests the fault should be covered by the manufacturers warrantee.

09:00 DA liaise with garage upon opening to query coverage of repair under warrantee. Garage decline this to be the case. DA request their comments in writing.

09:05 DA pass written statement from garage to Motoring organisation for review.

14:48 Motoring organisation request further clarification on reasoning to decline coverage under warrantee as member contests this as per his conversation with his main dealer in Romania.

14:58 DA liaise with Manufacturer’s UK head office and raise support ticket to investigate matter.  

16:08 Manufacturer UK head office check warrantee conditions and request copies of service book to confirm validity of the claim

16:15 DA request Motoring organisation to obtain service book from client in order to further this repair under warrantee

16:49 Service book is received by DA and forwarded directly to Garage service Manager for urgent assessment

17:10 DA phone Garage service manager who reverts to Manufacturer UK head office who in turn accept to complete the works under warrantee.

17:14 DA inform Motoring organisation of garage/manufacturer’s decision.

Day 3

09:20 DA call garage and confirm parts have been ordered and will arrive later the same afternoon

09:32 DA inform Motoring organisation of latest information

14:14 DA call garage, confirm receipt of necessary parts. Garage advise likely completion date is 2 days later.

14:19 DA inform Motoring organisation of latest news

Day 4

16:00 DA call garage for progress update. Garage confirm van is still on course for completion by the end of the following day.

16:08 DA inform motoring organisation van should be completed by the end of the next day

Day 5

14:01 DA call garage who confirm car is now repaired and road tested and can be collected anytime.

14:03 DA inform Motoring organisation the works are completed and provide garage’s full opening hours. Motoring organisation request DA to provide flight options for the following day from Timisoara to London.

16:19 DA provide 3 flight options with varying routes and pricing. Motoring organisation confirm an option and request a pre-paid taxi to collect member on arrival and transfer him to the garage to collect his vehicle.

Day 6

12:15 DA confirm arrival of client at Heathrow and safe collection by taxi.